Erika Schlager
@erikaschlager.bsky.social
Central Europe, Human Rights, Democracy | Former Counsel for International Law at www.csce.gov
Reposted by Erika Schlager
A wonderfully reported profile of Peter Magyar, Orban's main challenger in the upcoming Hungarian election, by @lilirutai.bsky.social in @foreignpolicy.com:
The Man Who Could Topple Orban
How Peter Magyar went from a former Fidesz insider to Hungary’s most popular politician.
foreignpolicy.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:41 PM
A wonderfully reported profile of Peter Magyar, Orban's main challenger in the upcoming Hungarian election, by @lilirutai.bsky.social in @foreignpolicy.com:
Meanwhile, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Dem Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) spearheaded a resolution calling on EU countries—name checking Hungary—to end dependence on Russian energy. 1/4
www.foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/re...
www.foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/re...
Ranking Member Shaheen, Senator Tillis, Colleagues Lead Bipartisan Resolution Urging Europe to Cut Remaining Russian Energy Ties Ahead of Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán’s White House Visit | United St...
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Coons...
www.foreign.senate.gov
November 8, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Meanwhile, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Dem Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) spearheaded a resolution calling on EU countries—name checking Hungary—to end dependence on Russian energy. 1/4
www.foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/re...
www.foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/re...
Slovakia’s Christian Democrats keep finding out that Robert Fico is still Robert Fico.
spectator.sme.sk/politics-and...
spectator.sme.sk/politics-and...
News digest: A missing reindeer and Fico’s hunt for the faithful - The Slovak Spectator
Museum purges roll on, a Nigerian footballer finds home in Slovakia, and a Canadian company riles Pezinok.
spectator.sme.sk
November 8, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Slovakia’s Christian Democrats keep finding out that Robert Fico is still Robert Fico.
spectator.sme.sk/politics-and...
spectator.sme.sk/politics-and...
Reposted by Erika Schlager
Trump and Orban will meet at the White House today.
David Pressman, former US Ambassador to the UN Security Council and Hungary, explains what Orban is doing in Washington, and offers a very strong take on what Trump and Orban really have in common.
time.com/7332003/vikt...
David Pressman, former US Ambassador to the UN Security Council and Hungary, explains what Orban is doing in Washington, and offers a very strong take on what Trump and Orban really have in common.
time.com/7332003/vikt...
Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump’s Attacks on Independence
Independence is "fundamental to the health of any democracy—and it has been systematically dismantled in Hungary."
time.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Trump and Orban will meet at the White House today.
David Pressman, former US Ambassador to the UN Security Council and Hungary, explains what Orban is doing in Washington, and offers a very strong take on what Trump and Orban really have in common.
time.com/7332003/vikt...
David Pressman, former US Ambassador to the UN Security Council and Hungary, explains what Orban is doing in Washington, and offers a very strong take on what Trump and Orban really have in common.
time.com/7332003/vikt...
Trump meets Orban again today.
I previously observed: “When…the amb. to Hungary appointed by Donald Trump said that Mr Trump would love to have what Viktor Orbán has, he didn’t mean Viktor Orbán’s policies …
I previously observed: “When…the amb. to Hungary appointed by Donald Trump said that Mr Trump would love to have what Viktor Orbán has, he didn’t mean Viktor Orbán’s policies …
November 7, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Trump meets Orban again today.
I previously observed: “When…the amb. to Hungary appointed by Donald Trump said that Mr Trump would love to have what Viktor Orbán has, he didn’t mean Viktor Orbán’s policies …
I previously observed: “When…the amb. to Hungary appointed by Donald Trump said that Mr Trump would love to have what Viktor Orbán has, he didn’t mean Viktor Orbán’s policies …
Reposted by Erika Schlager
Stakeholders described a severely restricted media environment within which independent journalism operates, while also highlighting the deep political polarisation shaping the run-up to the expected April 2026 elections
Hungary: Media freedom remains in crisis mode ahead of 2026 elections – ipi.media
In the past year, Fidesz has maintained the most sophisticated system of media capture and control yet seen within the European Union.
ipi.media
November 7, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Stakeholders described a severely restricted media environment within which independent journalism operates, while also highlighting the deep political polarisation shaping the run-up to the expected April 2026 elections
Reposted by Erika Schlager
These tactics - data breach of an opposition database used for "we know where you live" type of intimidation, threat of prosecution and national security inquiry, etc. - are depressingly familiar from Russia from the past 5-6 years.
www.euractiv.com/news/orban-r...
www.euractiv.com/news/orban-r...
Orbán rival says cyberattack behind database leak | Euractiv
Magyar also accused Russia of orchestrating the attacks to keep Orbán in power
www.euractiv.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:13 PM
These tactics - data breach of an opposition database used for "we know where you live" type of intimidation, threat of prosecution and national security inquiry, etc. - are depressingly familiar from Russia from the past 5-6 years.
www.euractiv.com/news/orban-r...
www.euractiv.com/news/orban-r...
Reposted by Erika Schlager
My short comment in The Guardian about the important role of Blikk in the Hungarian media market. Ringier, the publisher of the tabloid was sold to a pro-government owner just a few days ago. Leaving of all international publishers was an unimaginable scenario after the 1990 political transition.
For more than a decade now Hungary has served as a model for other “illiberal democracies” around the world. Donald Trump and his allies have long praised Orbán’s Hungary even as it plunges in press freedom rankings.
- My piece from Budapest.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
- My piece from Budapest.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Shock as Orbán allies take ownership of Hungary’s most-read newspaper
Blikk, a tabloid with about 3 million online monthly readers, bought by pro-Orbán media group Indamedia
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:13 AM
My short comment in The Guardian about the important role of Blikk in the Hungarian media market. Ringier, the publisher of the tabloid was sold to a pro-government owner just a few days ago. Leaving of all international publishers was an unimaginable scenario after the 1990 political transition.
Reposted by Erika Schlager
⚖️🗺️Our friends at World Justice Project just released the 2025 edition of the Rule of Law Index. Unsurprisingly, they found an accelerating decline in the state of the rule of law globally. Let's take a look at Central & Eastern Europe and how this trend plays out there. 1/
October 31, 2025 at 8:16 AM
⚖️🗺️Our friends at World Justice Project just released the 2025 edition of the Rule of Law Index. Unsurprisingly, they found an accelerating decline in the state of the rule of law globally. Let's take a look at Central & Eastern Europe and how this trend plays out there. 1/
I still want to know: why did then-Hungarian president Katalin Novak pardon a convicted terrorist? Who, in the Orban government, moved that paperwork to her desk?
edition.cnn.com/2023/04/30/w...
edition.cnn.com/2023/04/30/w...
Hungary pardoned convicted terrorist on the eve of Pope visit | CNN
A far-right activist convicted of terrorism was among several prisoners pardoned in Hungary before the Pope’s official visit to the country this week, it has emerged.
edition.cnn.com
October 29, 2025 at 10:42 PM
I still want to know: why did then-Hungarian president Katalin Novak pardon a convicted terrorist? Who, in the Orban government, moved that paperwork to her desk?
edition.cnn.com/2023/04/30/w...
edition.cnn.com/2023/04/30/w...
Reposted by Erika Schlager
Reposted by Erika Schlager
💥🛢️Trump’s NATO envoy isn’t buying Viktor Orbán’s “landlocked country” excuse:
🚫🇷🇺“Hungary, unlike many of its neighbours, has not made any plans or taken any active steps... That pipeline is most likely to be shut off in the coming years... We’re going to help them get off Russian oil and gas.”
🚫🇷🇺“Hungary, unlike many of its neighbours, has not made any plans or taken any active steps... That pipeline is most likely to be shut off in the coming years... We’re going to help them get off Russian oil and gas.”
October 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
💥🛢️Trump’s NATO envoy isn’t buying Viktor Orbán’s “landlocked country” excuse:
🚫🇷🇺“Hungary, unlike many of its neighbours, has not made any plans or taken any active steps... That pipeline is most likely to be shut off in the coming years... We’re going to help them get off Russian oil and gas.”
🚫🇷🇺“Hungary, unlike many of its neighbours, has not made any plans or taken any active steps... That pipeline is most likely to be shut off in the coming years... We’re going to help them get off Russian oil and gas.”
Censorship fail.
📸 There's a story behind this breathtaking shot of Hungary’s opposition rally marking the 1956 revolution: Orbán’s government banned drones to try conceal the crowd’s size. Yet a passenger on a landing plane caught the scene in Budapest from above — the photo hit Reddit and went viral instantly.
October 25, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Censorship fail.
Reposted by Erika Schlager
Poland "cannot guarantee" that, if Vladimir Putin tried to fly through Polish airspace on his way to a proposed meeting with Donald Trump in Hungary, he would not be ordered to land and arrested on an ICC warrant, says foreign minister @radek-sikorski.bsky.social.
Poland "cannot guarantee" Putin would not be arrested if he flies through Polish airspace to Hungary
notesfrompoland.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Poland "cannot guarantee" that, if Vladimir Putin tried to fly through Polish airspace on his way to a proposed meeting with Donald Trump in Hungary, he would not be ordered to land and arrested on an ICC warrant, says foreign minister @radek-sikorski.bsky.social.
Reposted by Erika Schlager
Reposted by Erika Schlager
RSF expands with first Central Europe bureau in Prague
rsf.org/en/rsf-expan...
rsf.org/en/rsf-expan...
RSF expands with first Central Europe bureau in Prague
The Prague bureau of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) — opened with the support of Czech President Petr Pavel — will strengthen the NGO’s work in the eastern European Union (EU) and highlight the regio...
rsf.org
October 15, 2025 at 4:55 AM
RSF expands with first Central Europe bureau in Prague
rsf.org/en/rsf-expan...
rsf.org/en/rsf-expan...
Reposted by Erika Schlager
Babiš will almost certainly have to rely on the "Motorists" party to govern, but now faces more revelations about would-be Foreign Minister Filip Turek's track record of vile social media posts in which, for example, he applauded the injuries a two-year-old Romani girl suffered in an arson attack.
Is this *really* the man who will represent the Czech Republic’s foreign policy? The 2009 firebombing of a baby was an exceptionally notorious hate crime raised across international fora.
romea.cz/en/czech-rep...
romea.cz/en/czech-rep...
Czech media release archive of ultra-right politician's deleted social media posts including his praising of a Romani infant almost being burned to death by neo-Nazis in 2009 - Romea.cz - Everything a...
On the evening of 10 October, Czech media outlet Deník N published an archive of deleted social media posts by Filip Turek, now the lawmaker and honorary chair of the Motorists Unite party who is alle...
romea.cz
October 14, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Babiš will almost certainly have to rely on the "Motorists" party to govern, but now faces more revelations about would-be Foreign Minister Filip Turek's track record of vile social media posts in which, for example, he applauded the injuries a two-year-old Romani girl suffered in an arson attack.
Reposted by Erika Schlager
💥🇺🇸 @financialtimes.com reveals Trump admin helped plan Kyiv's strikes on Russian oil.
Meanwhile, Viktor Orbán's pro-Kremlin govt sanctioned Ukraine's drone commander—for hitting the Druzhba pipeline that keeps Hungary running on Russian crude.
Will Hungary sanction U.S. military leaders next? 🤔
Meanwhile, Viktor Orbán's pro-Kremlin govt sanctioned Ukraine's drone commander—for hitting the Druzhba pipeline that keeps Hungary running on Russian crude.
Will Hungary sanction U.S. military leaders next? 🤔
October 12, 2025 at 9:38 AM
💥🇺🇸 @financialtimes.com reveals Trump admin helped plan Kyiv's strikes on Russian oil.
Meanwhile, Viktor Orbán's pro-Kremlin govt sanctioned Ukraine's drone commander—for hitting the Druzhba pipeline that keeps Hungary running on Russian crude.
Will Hungary sanction U.S. military leaders next? 🤔
Meanwhile, Viktor Orbán's pro-Kremlin govt sanctioned Ukraine's drone commander—for hitting the Druzhba pipeline that keeps Hungary running on Russian crude.
Will Hungary sanction U.S. military leaders next? 🤔
Is this *really* the man who will represent the Czech Republic’s foreign policy? The 2009 firebombing of a baby was an exceptionally notorious hate crime raised across international fora.
romea.cz/en/czech-rep...
romea.cz/en/czech-rep...
Czech media release archive of ultra-right politician's deleted social media posts including his praising of a Romani infant almost being burned to death by neo-Nazis in 2009 - Romea.cz - Everything a...
On the evening of 10 October, Czech media outlet Deník N published an archive of deleted social media posts by Filip Turek, now the lawmaker and honorary chair of the Motorists Unite party who is alle...
romea.cz
October 11, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Is this *really* the man who will represent the Czech Republic’s foreign policy? The 2009 firebombing of a baby was an exceptionally notorious hate crime raised across international fora.
romea.cz/en/czech-rep...
romea.cz/en/czech-rep...
Reposted by Erika Schlager
Reposted by Erika Schlager
Tune in for an outstanding explanation of what happened and why in the Czech elections. Plus, you will be rewarded with @petraguasti.bsky.social ’s take on the (step-)father the Motorists party. 😂
@gmfus.bsky.social
@authlibeu.bsky.social
@engagingce.bsky.social
youtu.be/_oGGsmYVyO0?...
@gmfus.bsky.social
@authlibeu.bsky.social
@engagingce.bsky.social
youtu.be/_oGGsmYVyO0?...
Bohemia Illiberalis? Perspectives on Czechia’s Future after the Elections
YouTube video by AUTHLIB
youtu.be
October 7, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Tune in for an outstanding explanation of what happened and why in the Czech elections. Plus, you will be rewarded with @petraguasti.bsky.social ’s take on the (step-)father the Motorists party. 😂
@gmfus.bsky.social
@authlibeu.bsky.social
@engagingce.bsky.social
youtu.be/_oGGsmYVyO0?...
@gmfus.bsky.social
@authlibeu.bsky.social
@engagingce.bsky.social
youtu.be/_oGGsmYVyO0?...
Tune in for an outstanding explanation of what happened and why in the Czech elections. Plus, you will be rewarded with @petraguasti.bsky.social ’s take on the (step-)father the Motorists party. 😂
@gmfus.bsky.social
@authlibeu.bsky.social
@engagingce.bsky.social
youtu.be/_oGGsmYVyO0?...
@gmfus.bsky.social
@authlibeu.bsky.social
@engagingce.bsky.social
youtu.be/_oGGsmYVyO0?...
Bohemia Illiberalis? Perspectives on Czechia’s Future after the Elections
YouTube video by AUTHLIB
youtu.be
October 7, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Tune in for an outstanding explanation of what happened and why in the Czech elections. Plus, you will be rewarded with @petraguasti.bsky.social ’s take on the (step-)father the Motorists party. 😂
@gmfus.bsky.social
@authlibeu.bsky.social
@engagingce.bsky.social
youtu.be/_oGGsmYVyO0?...
@gmfus.bsky.social
@authlibeu.bsky.social
@engagingce.bsky.social
youtu.be/_oGGsmYVyO0?...
Reposted by Erika Schlager
Fico announces Slovak deal with US to build new nuclear power capacity.
October 7, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Fico announces Slovak deal with US to build new nuclear power capacity.
Reposted by Erika Schlager
📊 Kde a kdo z romských kandidátů ve volbách uspěl nejvíce?
Romea.cz přináší podrobnou analýzu výsledků všech 16 Romů a Romek, kteří letos kandidovali do Poslanecké sněmovny.
👉 Přehled hlasů podle obcí, výsledky jednotlivých kandidátů i jejich vyjádření čtěte zde: 🔗 1url.cz/@analyza-rom...
Romea.cz přináší podrobnou analýzu výsledků všech 16 Romů a Romek, kteří letos kandidovali do Poslanecké sněmovny.
👉 Přehled hlasů podle obcí, výsledky jednotlivých kandidátů i jejich vyjádření čtěte zde: 🔗 1url.cz/@analyza-rom...
October 6, 2025 at 12:09 PM
📊 Kde a kdo z romských kandidátů ve volbách uspěl nejvíce?
Romea.cz přináší podrobnou analýzu výsledků všech 16 Romů a Romek, kteří letos kandidovali do Poslanecké sněmovny.
👉 Přehled hlasů podle obcí, výsledky jednotlivých kandidátů i jejich vyjádření čtěte zde: 🔗 1url.cz/@analyza-rom...
Romea.cz přináší podrobnou analýzu výsledků všech 16 Romů a Romek, kteří letos kandidovali do Poslanecké sněmovny.
👉 Přehled hlasů podle obcí, výsledky jednotlivých kandidátů i jejich vyjádření čtěte zde: 🔗 1url.cz/@analyza-rom...
Reposted by Erika Schlager
💥🔎 On X/Twitter, Visegrád24 became famous for its anti-Muslim and anti-migration stance as well as waves of disinformation. A recent report brings to light people, funding and political actors tied to their Central Europe-based but international network. @vsquare.bsky.social
Unmasking Visegrád24: Tracing the People, Money, and Political Connections - VSquare.org
Visegrád24 became famous for its anti-Muslim and anti-migration stance as well as waves of disinformation. A recent report by the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa (CINIA) brings to light a p...
vsquare.org
October 3, 2025 at 6:59 AM
💥🔎 On X/Twitter, Visegrád24 became famous for its anti-Muslim and anti-migration stance as well as waves of disinformation. A recent report brings to light people, funding and political actors tied to their Central Europe-based but international network. @vsquare.bsky.social